Aria's POV
Heavy footsteps pounded behind me as I ran through the dark street.
"Stop right there!" one of the security guards yelled.
My bare feet slipped on the wet sidewalk. I'd been watching through that hotel window for too long, and now they'd caught me spying on their fancy party.
I turned the corner too fast and crashed into a trash can. The metal hit the ground with a loud bang that echoed through the empty street. Pain shot through my knee, but I kept running.
The guards were getting closer. I could hear them breathing hard behind me.
"She went this way!"
My heart hammered in my chest. If they caught me, they'd probably beat me up and throw me back on the streets. Or worse - they might call the police, and I'd end up in jail.
I'd rather die than go to jail.
I pushed myself to run faster, but my legs felt like jelly. I hadn't eaten anything real in three days, just some old bread I found behind a bakery. The world started spinning around me.
No, no, no. Not now.
My foot caught on a crack in the ground, and I went flying forward. My hands scraped against the pavement as I tried to catch myself, but it was too late.
I rolled right into the middle of the hotel's front door.
Bright lights from inside hurt my eyes. I blinked and looked up to see a crowd of fancy people in expensive clothes looking down at me. Their faces were shocked and sickened, like I was some kind of monster.
"Oh my goodness, what is that?"
"Is she hurt?"
"Someone call security!"
I tried to scramble to my feet, but my scraped hands shook too much. That's when I saw him.
The most beautiful man I'd ever seen stood in the doorway, looking down at me with ice-blue eyes. Even sitting on the ground covered in dirt, I could feel the power coming off him like heat from a fire.
Alpha Dante Storm.
Everyone knew his name. He was the strongest, most feared boss in the entire werewolf world. People said he could kill someone just by looking at them wrong.
But right now, he wasn't looking at me like he wanted to kill me.
He was looking at me like he'd seen a ghost.
Our eyes met, and something amazing happened. It felt like lightning struck me right in the chest. Every part of my body started buzzing, and I couldn't breathe.
The most amazing smell filled my nose - pine trees and rain and something that made my wolf go absolutely crazy inside my head.
"Mate!" my wolf howled. "MATE!"
No way. This couldn't be happening.
But Alpha Dante's eyes went wide, and I knew he felt it too. The mate bond - that magical link the moon goddess gives to wolves who are meant to be together forever.
He stepped toward me, and I thought my heart might burst.
"Mine," he breathed, so softly that only I could hear it.
That one word made me feel like I was flying. After seventeen years of being nobody, of having nothing, the moon goddess had given me the most powerful Alpha living as my mate.
Maybe my bad life was finally going to get better.
Then the security guards caught up to me.
"Sorry about this, Alpha Storm," one of them said, grabbing my arms and pulling me to my feet. "This rogue was spying on your party. We'll get her out of here right away."
The word "rogue" hit Alpha Dante like a slap. His beautiful face turned cold and hard, like someone had put up a wall between us.
"A rogue," he said, and now his voice sounded disgusted.
I wanted to tell him I wasn't really a rogue. That I used to have a family and a pack before everything went wrong. But the guards were squeezing my arms so tight I could barely think.
"Please," I whispered, looking right at Alpha Dante. "You felt it too, didn't you? The bond?"
For just a second, his cold mask slipped. I saw confusion and pain in his eyes, like he was fighting a war inside his head.
Then the wall came back up.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he said. "I don't have a mate. And I certainly don't mate with rogues."
Each word felt like a knife in my chest. The mate bond was still there, still pulling us toward each other, but he was refusing me anyway.
"Take her away," Alpha Dante told the guards. "Rogues aren't welcome here."
"But you said—" I started.
"I said nothing," he cut me off. "You're just another homeless rogue looking for trouble."
He turned and walked back toward the hotel like I meant nothing to him. Like the most important moment of my life was just an annoying interruption to his fancy party.
The guards started pulling me away from the bright lights and warm building. I spun around to look at Alpha Dante one more time, hoping he'd change his mind and come after me.
But he kept walking, his back straight and cold.
Just before the guards shoved me into their van, I heard him say something to another man in a suit. The words made my blood turn to ice.
"Find out everything about her past. And call Alpha Victor Nightwood. Tell him I found his lost daughter."
The van door slammed shut, leaving me in darkness.
Alpha Victor Nightwood. I knew that name from somewhere, but I couldn't remember where. And what did Alpha Dante mean about a lost daughter?
As the van drove away from the hotel, taking me to whatever jail they had planned, one thought kept spinning in my head.
How did Alpha Dante know who I really was when I didn't even know myself?